


No Regular Love

by speculum_magicus



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alcoholic Tasting Gummy Bears, Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Balcony Sex, Ben is Secretly Gay, Bisexual Dean Winchester, Candy Store Owner Gabriel (Supernatural), Chocolate Smile, Dean Hopes to Get Help From Gabriel, Dean is an Overthinker, Drunk Dean Winchester, Gabriel Opens Up About His Family History, Helpful Gabriel (Supernatural), Homophobia, Honest Talk, Lisa and Ben are not related, M/M, Non-Alcoholic Gummy Bears, Overprotective Dean Winchester, Public Hand Jobs, Teacher Dean, Teenagers Speak Before They Think, Troublemaker Ben, Violence (mentioned), debriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:48:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24088396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speculum_magicus/pseuds/speculum_magicus
Summary: Dean is a high school gym and English literature teacher who got into some serious trouble because of one of his students, Ben. Ben is secretly gay and accuses Dean of having sexually harassed him although Dean just wanted to help him. To relieve some stress, Dean ends up in a bar. Gabriel, a candy shop owner, tries to cheer him up.
Relationships: Ben Braeden/Original Male Character (mentioned), Debriel - Relationship, Gabriel/Dean Winchester, Lisa Braeden/Dean Winchester (mentioned)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this fic is taken from the song "Noreg“ by Skye Townsend. Parts of the song will also be used in a later chapter.

* * *

“Excuse me, but I think you dropped something,” a voice behind Dean said. Dean turned around on his barstool and found himself facing a small guy with light brown hair, some blue jeans, a brown shirt, and a green jacket, who was holding something round and golden in the palm of his outstretched hand. Based on the giant smiley-face that was printed on it, Dean assumed it was a piece of chocolate.

“Listen dude, I don’t know if that’s some kind of extremely lame attempt of a pick-up line on your part, but you better try it on somebody who isn’t desperately trying to get drunk as fast as possible,” Dean said as firm and angry as he could.

But the small guy simply wasn’t having it. “You are probably right, but I still think what you are currently missing is a bit of a smile on your lips to at least make it appear like you are actually enjoying your drinks,” the guy replied, now even more eager in offering Dean the chocolaty smile. 

Dean looked at the guy, incredulous. Then he looked at the chocolate. Finally he looked back at the guy again, who was still smiling brightly and who once more made an encouraging hand gesture for Dean to take the chocolate. “What a freak!” Dean thought.

“Thanks, dude.” Dean huffed, faked a smile, and finally grabbed the golden coin. “And now get lost!” he added firmly while already turning back on his seat and towards his drink. He looked at the chocolate for a second, scoffed, tossed it on the table beside his drink, before he downed the rest of the whisky in one giant gulp. He slammed the glass back on the coaster and indicated to the barkeeper to get him another one. Meanwhile, the stranger started walking around the bar, stopping at various places, giving away some more golden coins.

A few minutes past until the new drink was placed in front of him. Dean closed his eyes and took a big sip of his drink, enjoying the wonderful feeling of the whisky burning its way down his throat. He was just about to order another one when he suddenly heard somebody audibly clearing their throat behind him. Dean chose to ignore it and ordered his drink. But then he heard it again: somebody was very persistently trying to get his attention by clearing their throat. Dean still chose to ignore it. 

His day had been absolutely awful so far and all he wanted was to get utterly drunk, so he could forget this day ever existed. And although there were a lot of incredibly hot looking girls and guys in this bar, he honestly wasn’t interested in them even in the slightest. 

“Excuse me,” a voice behind him said. Dean ignored it. “Excuse me, please,” somebody said again. Dean still didn’t react. When the voice tried to get his attention for a third time, he also felt a very persistent tap on his shoulder. Annoyed, he rolled his eyes and turned around. “What?” he asked.

“Excuse me. I know you previously said that you wanted to get drunk, but I gave you that little smile and I’d really like to see you eat it,” the same little man as before said patiently and smiling brightly. 

“Listen, pal. I told you before: I’m not interested in any of your smiles or stupid pick-up lines. All I want to do is get wasted and forget the world even exists, okay? Do you get that?” Dean asked, annoyed. 

The little man smiled at Dean. “Yes. Of course I get that, but I really think you could use a little smile on your face,” he replied chirpily. 

“And I think you could really use a beating to lose that stupid smile on **your** face,” Dean said forcefully. “As you can see, I won’t hesitate to bring my point across,” pointing to the black eye he had. 

“Whow. Whow. Easy there, Mr. Handsome!” the little man said. “I’m just trying to cheer you up a bit.” 

“Oh yeah? Well, I didn’t ask for it,” Dean replied, angrily. “Nor did I ask for some stupid chocolate with a smile on it! What kind of immature flirting even is that? What are you? A middle schooler? And what’s worse: It’s not even Valentine’s Day! So there’s really no reason for you handing out chocolate,” he added, throwing the chocolate back at the little man, hitting him straight in the chest.

“I-“

“What do you assume you are even achieving by it, mhm? Do you honestly think guys will throw themselves at you just because you act nice by offering them some chocolate? Is it even pure chocolate or have you roofied it somehow because you are unable find any potential dates otherwise?” Dean added, a little bit drunkenly. 

“Listen, grumpy. I have no interest in fighting you,” the man said, his voice entirely calm, soothing, and warm. “All I wanted was to make you smile because you looked kinda sad and I thought you could use a little happiness besides the booze. If you don’t want my company, that’s fine. I just wanted you to have something smiling back at you to remind you that every situation, no matter how dire it appears to be, is more bearable once you find even the tiniest of reasons to smile,” the guy paused for a second before he continued. “Also, you look much hotter when you smile. But if you are truly **THAT** determined to reject my gift, I won’t force it onto you,” the man said, sad. “I usually come here because it’s just around the corner from my candy store and I often enjoy having some drinks here after work. And when I did my candy route this evening, giving away some of my chocolate smiles in this bar, I saw you sitting at the bar and you looked pretty sad, so I hoped I could cheer you up a bit, but evidently I thought wrong. Guess you are just the same old grumpy alcoholic as the rest of them. So,” he made a pause to carefully place the chocolate back on the table beside Dean’s drink, making one last try in cheering Dean up with it, “if it’s okay with you, I’ll just leave this smile in a place where you can keep looking at it throughout your visit here. If you feel like eating it, feel free to do so. I have dozens of them. And if you don’t want it, just leave it on the table. I’m sure somebody else will appreciate it for what it is… a little bit of happiness in-between a lot of booze, bad mood, and wrong decisions.” 

Dean opened his mouth to say something, but the man interrupted him. “No, it’s alright. You don’t have to say anything. I’ll go now and leave you with whisky number five or six or whichever it is by now and a small smile made of chocolate.” He walked three steps away before turning around one last time, saying, “Also, if I truly would have wanted to hit on you, don’t you think I would have told you my name or at least left you my business card by now? Goodbye!” And with that, he decisively walked away towards the door and ultimately out of it. 

Dean was perplexed. For a short moment, he thought about whether or not he was supposed to follow the man out of the bar and apologize for his behavior, but then he heard another glass with a drink being put down in front of him and he forgot all about it. After all, that guy was just a weird stranger and he really didn’t feel like making friends tonight.

~~µ~~

Several hours have passed and the drinks in front of Dean had come and gone, just like the company left and right beside him had come and gone in a steady flow. Most of them just drank their drinks in silence or watched the football match on TV and cursed several times throughout it. But some were curious about the chocolate and either asked Dean about it or simply attempted to take it; and although Dean had been dismissive towards the guy and the chocolate initially, he now, weirdly enough, didn’t really wanted to get rid of it and protected it from being taken away.

He couldn’t really explain how or why, but the stupid piece of smiling chocolate had actually been keeping him sane throughout this evening. Dean was a high school teacher and today had been one of his toughest days since he had started teaching. Not only had his “semi-girlfriend because they were actually just fuck buddies” of four years, Lisa, called it quits today, no, even worse: one of his senior students, a young boy by the name of Ben, had accused him during his English literature lesson and in front of the entire class of having sexually harassed him during detention. Dean was tired and disillusioned. Sure, he sometimes had unconventional ways of teaching, but he always took exceptional good care of his students, especially when they were in trouble or notorious for causing it. That’s why Ben was so very dear to his heart, because in many regards he reminded him of himself: strong-willed, stubborn, constantly causing trouble by challenging and questioning authority, repeatedly involved in fist fights, but at the same time always willing to protect those he loved. And that’s the main reason why, although he was popular with many students, Ben was his favorite one. Ben’s record of screw-ups was longer than that of any other student Dean had ever seen and probably even longer than his own one, but he just couldn’t fight the tiny sparkle of hope he still had in that boy, even when all the other teachers had lost any hope for him a long time ago and in fact even hated him – unofficially of course. Dean just couldn’t do the same. 

So how did Dean end up with a sexual harassment claim by him then? Well, the thing is, Ben had told Dean a while ago that he was actually gay and that he didn’t know how to handle the whole situation. He knew that his cool bad boy-image in school would be shattered within seconds once people found out that he also liked boys. He was convinced that his fellow students, assholes as teenagers sometimes tend to be at that age, wouldn’t stop teasing and ridiculing him once they learned that he actually enjoyed taking it up the ass and sucking dick. Ben didn’t know what to do. He had bought an incredibly cool and edgy motorcycle just a few weeks ago and had started cruising the local countryside; which had apparently led to him getting his first boyfriend. But the big problem wasn’t of course that Ben wanted to finally come out and happily introduce Sebastian as his boyfriend, no, the problem was that Dean had taken his Chevrolet Impala for a spin the night before and that he had ended up at a nearby lake. A lake that was unfortunately very popular with the locals and where Ben had also been the night before… with his boyfriend. So while Dean had been sitting in his car, drinking a few bottles of non-alcoholic beer and relaxing from the stress of the day, he had seen Ben and his boyfriend kissing and fooling around and racing each other on their motorcycles in the near distance. 

Dean was cool with it and he actually neither cared nor paid any particular attention to it, because hey, if the kids demand and get granted the privilege of privacy and some “you don’t know me outside of school”-behavior, then he really shouldn’t be denied the same thing. 

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as smoothly as they were supposed to go that evening. Ben and Sebastian had a run-in with a couple of drunk college boys who had screamed homophobic slurs at them and started provoking a fight. Though Ben and Sebastian had tried to run away and drive off with their motorbikes, it hadn’t worked as there were just too many college boys who had repeatedly hit them and had prevented every flight attempt by the boys towards the safety of their motorcycles. Dean was a helpful citizen at any given point in time, but when it was one of his own students? He switched to full on berserker- and protective-mode. He immediately ran towards his boy and confronted the college boys.

Unfortunately, peacefully talking to them hadn’t worked and so while trying to go between Ben and one of the boys, who was just taking a swing towards him, Dean got hit right below his right eye, giving him a giant shiner in the process. Dean had tried his hardest not to fight back and simply calm the college boys down and make them go away, but it wasn’t until Dean had been hit and had threatened to call the police that they had gotten scared and finally ran away. 

After that, Ben had been shaking from all the adrenaline rushing through his veins. He had quickly thanked Dean before he had dragged Sebastian towards their bikes so they could run, or rather drive off, immediately. Dean had watched them drive away and had been angry. But he hadn’t been angry with Ben or Sebastian; he was angry with the college boys. Not just because they were older and should therefore know better, but rather because they represented everything that was still wrong in today’s society. 

Slowly, he had walked back to his Impala, and when people approached him to help him, he only accepted one can of beer because it was cool and he could press it against his swollen eye. It wasn’t until he had finally sat down in his car and broke down in pain and anger, drinking the content of the can in one single, giant gulp that he also got mad at himself and the entire world of over twenty years ago. 

Suddenly, Dean had remembered the way people had had judged him many, many years ago before he actually stopped giving a fuck about what people thought about him and his preferences. He had remembered a young boy whom he had met during summer camp one year and with whom he had instantly bonded. He had remembered how that summer had been filled with many first forays into the unknown. Looking at the current lake before him and the way the moon reflected in it, he had suddenly remembered a different lake and a lot of hot and humid nights filled with first kisses… a million first –very gentle and shy- touches… some first attempts of caressing a boy’s body and the surprise in finding out if and how it differed from a girl one’s. But unfortunately he had also remembered the beatings he and his friend had gotten on several occasions. He had remembered all the slurs that had been thrown at them and now glancing at the place on the shore where he had defended Ben not ten minutes ago, he finally started crying. He always told people that Ben kinda reminded him of himself, but the uncanny amount of ways of just how much he reminded him of himself sometimes, hurt him physically. As ridiculous as it sounded, at one point Dean had even suspected that Ben might be his son and had therefore done some research on his parents, which, what a surprise, only confirmed that there was absolutely, 100%, no way that Dean could have fathered Ben. Which was comforting on the one hand, but also inexplicably made Dean a bit sad on the other one. 

When Dean had arrived in school the next day, not only did Lisa end their arrangement because he had stood her up once again the night before and she had found a new –and actual- boyfriend anyway, but a clarifying conversation with Ben in the gym had also ended with a verbal fight. Ben had been incredibly angry because of the events of the previous night and had accused Dean of intending to tell everyone, including his parents, that he was gay. Dean had tried to reason with Ben and explain to him that he would never forcefully out him to anyone. After that, Ben had angrily screamed and asked Dean how he intended to explain his giant shiner to people; Dean had simply replied that he would tell people he had gotten into a fight. It happens. Even to teachers. Then Dean had smiled, trying to calm Ben down. But Ben wasn’t having it. He had threatened Dean that if he were to tell anybody that he was gay, he would claim that Dean had inappropriately touched him. Dean had been taken aback, but had still tried his best to calm Ben down. But Ben had been furious and completely desperate. He had repeatedly switched between threatening Dean angrily and sobbing and shaking because he feared that his secret second life would come out and ruin everything. They were lucky that both, Dean and Ben, had the second period free and that there wasn’t anybody else in the gym during that time, so they were able to talk semi-private there. 

Dean hadn’t called Ben or his fears ridiculous, how could he? He had lived them himself when he had been a teenager… hormones, responsible for hasty actions and extreme emotions, included. Plus, almost nobody in Dean’s current school knew he was bisexual. It wasn’t that he was hiding it; it was just that Dean didn’t feel like he was obliged to tell everyone in school. He was out to those people whom he valued and loved, but the rest? Nah, why cause unnecessary fuss and drama? He and Lisa had used to work in a school in a major city and everybody had known about his sexuality and literally nobody had cared. On the contrary, for many students it had been the main reason why they liked him because he was living, breathing proof of someone living their life according to their own preferences and never having to say sorry or justifying himself to anyone for it. For those students, Dean had been the first person they had come out to (even though he had suspected it in most cases way before they even started talking to him for the first time). And for many students he had been the one who had helped them come out to their parents and/or leave home to live in a foster home or similar institution if their parents couldn’t accept them as who and what they are. Dean had been happy at that school, not least because this had been the school where he had met Lisa and they had started their casual hook-ups. 

But then, things had changed. A few parents had gotten so enraged with Dean fanning around his so-called gayness in front of their poor, poor innocent children and had claimed it would inevitably turn their kids gay. But not only that, they claimed that as a consequence of it, the children would even run the risk of getting molested by Dean. As a result, Dean had to leave the school and look for another one. He luckily found one, but it was in a teeny tiny village where even the thought of someone being pan or bisexual was an entirely exotic one and something people had only heard about in stories, but rarely had ever actually seen. 

The first thing Dean did when he moved into his nice new apartment was to research if and where LGBTQ+ people can and do meet up. Unfortunately, the result only confirmed his worst fears: there was no such place. And so Dean tried to blend in with the village people and expanded his search radius, which luckily brought back some bars and other kinds of places where he could find hook-ups after his own taste in a city a little farther away. 

After initially being very mad about the extra miles he had to take into account for just a simple hook-up, Dean actually started appreciating the fact that he wasn’t running the risk of running into any parents of his students who might question him about their offspring or/and accidentally hook up with one of them. 

Although Dean didn’t particularly like the village he had ended up in, he also didn’t particularly like the thought of having to look for yet another place to move to and slowly but surely having to settle down in. 

After their chat, Ben left the gym and Dean stayed, as he had to teach year 9 during lessons 3 and 4. When the eighth lesson of the day was approaching, Dean was already pretty spent, and yet he was actually looking forward to the next lesson. It was time for English literature with his favorite class: the class Ben was a part of. Though admittedly it wasn’t Dean’s favorite class because of Ben, but rather because the class was filled with quite a few bright students, of which Ben just happened to be one. 

Having had a pretty rough evening, Dean hadn’t bothered much with preparing this lesson in depth. He knew that with this class, he sometimes only needed as much as a quote or just a short text and the lesson would be filled with lively discussions and intellectual thoughts. Or at least that’s what usually happened. That day though, Dean had unfortunately chosen poorly. He had picked The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and by a string of unfortunate associations and questions and theories (Dean still had no idea how it could ever derail that way) they somehow ended up with questions about Dean’s personal life and how there were parallels to Hester Prynne’s arrival in Boston, Massachusetts. With the only exception that, because people weren’t that familiar with Dean’s backstory, they theorized that he might be hiding his own little dirty secret and that’s why he came to their remote village. 

Dean laughed at those theories, as did most of his students, but then they talked about film adaptations of this story and also about the movie Easy A, speculating which punishments or rather which letter certain behavior would evoke nowadays. After some fooling around and plenty laughs about an “H” for someone who constantly forgot to do their homework and a “D” for disobedience in general, someone suggested a “Q” for queer, which started a proper storm in class. Suddenly the suggestions and questions around that topic derailed entirely and became very serious. What about lesbians? What about bisexual or pansexual people? Isn’t the wearing of a rainbow or any other flag of the LGBTQ+ community a “scarlet letter” in itself already? Aren’t people making themselves vulnerable and a potential target for harassment simply by openly wearing signs of their respective sexuality? What would happen if pedophiles and murderers nowadays would have to wear letters of shame, showing everyone what their crime is? The discussion got very heated, until it eventually culminated in people calling each other out on the letters they thought others should wear. 

They thought “A” for “awesome” should be Dean’s (although that really wasn’t a crime, now was it? But hey, he was just “too” awesome! That HAS to be punished somehow). They continued naming each and every single one of them. When the turn was on Ben, many agreed it should be “dh” for “devilishly handsome” and everyone laughed, but then Lucifer shouted it actually meant “dang homo.” And that’s when things got out of control. Lucifer’s friends had laughed manically while others had started yelling, trying to defend and nullify that statement, but it didn’t work. And it only gotten worse once Dean had tried to step in and defend gays in general. Unfortunately that only got him the ever so old accusation of playing favorites and actually being in love with Ben – which was obviously just plain ridiculous and wrong. But Lucifer and his friends just wouldn’t stop. They kept teasing Ben and questioned every single conversation he and Dean ever had alone in the hallway or at some other place. 

Dean had tried to defuse the situation, but it just didn’t work. And so it happened that Azazel, one of Lucifer’s friends, mentioned Ben’s weird regularity of always ending up in detention whenever Dean was the one in charge of it. Though both, Dean and Ben, called Azazel out on this utter idiocy by stating the actual fact of Ben being there almost all the time, no matter if Dean was working during detention or not, it kept spiraling downward right until Ben couldn’t take it anymore. Right after Azazel accused him of now only going to detention whenever Dean ISN’T in charge because they had been caught several times, Ben claimed that Dean had touched him inappropriately during detention and that that was the real reason he was avoiding Dean’s detention. 

After that, all hell had broken loose and Dean ended up talking to the principal, having to reassure him over and over again that he had never ever approached or touched any student inappropriately – especially not Ben. After a very long talk with Dean in which he had even threatened him with an unpaid leave of absence until the matter was resolved, the principal had talked to Ben and made it very clear to him that such claims, especially should they turn out to not actually be true, had rather nasty consequences for all participants. And it was at this point that Ben had finally caved in and admitted that he had lied. Asked for a reason, he made something up on the spot, which he, after the interrogation was over, couldn’t even recall anymore. As a consequence of it all, Ben was exempt from school for an entire week. 

Dean knew that the matter was resolved theoretically, but he also knew that the other students in school and particularly Ben’s class were going to talk nonetheless. They were certainly going to talk to other students about what had happened in class. Not to mention that many questions will arise if Ben doesn’t turn up for school for an entire week, although many would probably assume that it was just because of some of his usual juvenile acts, like hitting a classmate or breaking into school and stealing a sports trophy. Dean was certain that the whole matter would ultimately become public knowledge, and therefore also the source of gossip in school, the students’ homes, and probably also the village they all live in. 

Dean drank the content of his glass in one go and ordered a double shot of whisky. Dean felt sorry for Ben. Yes, although the boy had accused him of an unthinkable thing, Dean still felt sorry for him, because Ben had acted according to his age. And teenagers do tend to be impulsive and sometimes do and/or say stupid things. Dean felt sorry for Ben, because he knew that things can and will get worse for Ben in the foreseeable future. Dean knew, it was inevitable that once people found out Ben had lied, they would ask why he had lied – and especially why something so horrific. Dean knew that Ben probably wouldn’t have a good answer and should he not provide a good enough answer, more questions would arise and eventually, the very thing Ben had tried to prevent could happen: other students finding out that he’s actually gay. 

Dean’s drink arrived. He raised the glass and made an imaginary toast to Ben, promising him to save him from that disaster. Promising, to find a believable explanation and excuse for Ben’s hasty words. Dean knew that it was his duty to do so. It was the only way Ben could get out of the situation unscathed. Dean emptied his glass, and the pain he felt as the cold drink ran down his throat straight to his stomach felt good. It made him feel numb towards the pain he felt in his heart for Ben and the anger towards all of these small-minded people. 

He put the empty glass back on the coaster and his eyes automatically fell on the chocolaty smile that was still placed right beside his coaster. For the first time that evening, Dean smiled for a short while. Suddenly, he thought to himself that instead of another drink, he wanted something else to numb him, to make him completely forget everything else. What he now desired more than anything was a good fuck. And he was pretty sure he knew where to get one. He signaled the barkeeper to come closer. 

Once he paid his tab, he asked the barkeeper if, by any chance, he knew the guy who had given him the smiley earlier that evening. Though Dean doubted that the barkeeper truly knew the guy or at least nothing more than just that he was a regular customer, he was more than surprised to find out that the barkeeper not only knew the guy’s name, but also knew his exact address. When Dean looked suspiciously at the guy behind the bar, he just smiled brightly and admitted that Gabriel, that was the stranger’s name, was actually his big brother. When Dean didn’t react to this news, the guy simply sighed and wrote Gabriel’s home address on the back of one of Gabriel’s business cards. 

A bit bewildered and definitely utterly drunk, Dean said thanks, took the card, put the chocolate in his pocket, and staggered towards the door and into the street. The fresh air immediately hit him and for a moment, he wasn’t sure if his current plan was actually such a good idea. But then the last remaining sober brain cells reminded him that trying to come up with a rescue plan for Ben was in itself a good idea, but that it would work much better once he wasn’t intoxicated anymore and had at least one good night’s sleep. Dean agreed with his own thoughts and took a thorough look at the business card he was given before he started walking towards the address.

~~µ~~

Thanks to being and walking in fresh air for a while, Dean’s drunkenness had subsided for a little bit, or at least enough for him to concentrate on finding Gabriel’s address and stop staggering around and instead walk in a mostly straight line. Dean remembered that the stranger, Gabriel, had mentioned that the bar was just around the corner of his candy store, so he assumed, or rather hoped, that his apartment wouldn’t be too far away either. And as luck would have it, the apartment was indeed near the candy store… in that it was literally just above the candy store. It was pretty dark, so he couldn’t see everything, but he was able to see that there was a giant oriel window, extending over the entire height of the house, at the corner of the store. He was also able to make out that there was something inside of it that was so huge that it appeared to extend from the first floor and over to the second one. But what exactly it was, he couldn’t make out. Or rather… he didn’t really care at this time of the night. So instead of investigating it, he walked towards the well-lit entrance of the building, walked up the few flight of stairs, and looked for Gabriel’s doorbell. Lucky for him, he didn’t have to look for long, as there were only two doorbells, one without a door plate and another one that clearly stated: “Gabriel Novak.” 

Dean took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. Five minutes passed, but nothing happened. Dean rang again and waited. But still nothing happened. Dean rang again, and when still nothing happened, he turned around and, his shoulders hanging like he just admitted defeat, slowly started walking down the stairs again. Suddenly, he heard several safety bolts being pushed aside, and when he turned around, the door opened… and Gabriel, the kind stranger from earlier, stood there… in his pajamas. In his green pajamas with red lollipops to be exact. Dean was speechless. He didn’t know whether to laugh or simply walk, or rather run, away, pretending this had never happened. But instead of picking one of the two options, Dean just stood there, not moving, not saying anything, frozen to that one place, while he looked up at the figure standing in the doorframe above him… a sleepy Gabriel with tousled hair and only wearing a cute pajama. It seemed somehow too grotesque and cute a scene to actually be real.

After Gabriel stood there for a few seconds and didn’t get any reaction from Dean, he softly and sleepily asked, “Yes? Can I help you?” Dean’s heart dropped, or rather melted away, instantly. 

Dean’s brain and mouth refused to cooperate, so out of reflex, he put his hand in his pocket, took out the chocolate smile, and extended his hand towards Gabriel, holding, or rather presenting, the piece of chocolate in the palm of his outstretched hand as a way of explanation.

The fogginess in Gabriel’s brain evaporated instantly and he immediately had a bright smile on his lips, “Grumpy stranger from the bar!” he exclaimed chirpily as the realization of who stood before him kicked in. 

That broke the spell. Dean smiled and quickly walked up the stairs. “Sorry, I didn’t have the heart to eat it, so I came here to see your smile instead.”

Though Gabriel was happy about seeing Dean, he was also a bit confused. “How…?”

“Your brother, the barkeeper, told me your address. I hope you don’t mind. I… ehm…” Dean looked up and down Gabriel’s outfit, “Sorry, I probably should have called or make your brother call you to warn you that I was on the way, I-”

“No! No, it’s fine. Really! Absolutely okay. Do you want to come in?” Gabriel asked innocently. “If you want to crash, I’ve got a giant sofa on which you can sleep it off if you like.”

Dean’s previous determination of simply hooking up with the guy to let off some steam was suddenly replaced with confusion, because, did that guy seriously think Dean had only come to him in the middle of the night because he wasn’t fit or sober enough to walk to his own home?! Apparently, that Gabriel guy was even nicer and more innocent than Dean had initially assumed he was. “Ehm… yeah, thanks. That would be nice.” Dean said.

“You are more than welcome!” Gabriel said with a giant smile. “After you!” he said, and indicated for Dean to walk past him and into the house.

Dean did as he was shown and walked towards the light that shone through the open door at the other end of the hallway while Gabriel closed the entrance door behind him and bolted all of the safety bolts again. 

When Dean walked through the door, a giant and incredibly modern kitchen greeted him. “Wow!” he exhaled, surprised. 

“You want some tea?” Gabriel asked as he quickly walked towards him. 

“No, thanks.” Dean answered.

“Okay,” Gabriel said as he also closed the door to his apartment, and walked past Dean. He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water. “Want some water? Or something greasy to eat for a midnight snack?” Gabriel asked sympathetically. 

Dean shook his head in slight confusion, but also thankfulness. He felt like he had fallen into a parallel world. “Eh… just some water. Thanks.” 

“No problem!” Gabriel said and took out a glass for Dean. He took the glass in one hand and the bottle in the other one and walked towards the living room, indicating to Dean to follow him. 

There, he placed the bottle and the glass on the living room table, put away the pillows that were on the couch, took out some fresh linen from a box beside the couch, put on a fitted sheet and prepared a comfy bed for Dean. “Et voilà! Here’s your bed and here’s something for you to drink during the night.”

“So, I guess you are doing this regularly, mhm?” Dean asked drunkenly.

Gabriel just continued smiling. “You’ve already seen where the kitchen is, so if you need anything, feel free to eat and drink whatever you like. The bathroom is behind the door to your left, and the remote controls to the TV are on the table. Is there anything else I can help you with?” Gabriel asked, his voice filled with compassion.

Dean was perplexed. Who was that guy? And how did he end up in his apartment? I mean, he KNEW how he ended up there. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew that he had an absolutely shitty day and because of that had gotten wasted, and after that had walked to Gabriel’s apartment, but Gabriel seemed… Dean couldn’t describe it. All he could say was that despite Dean’s grumpiness and his being entirely lost in his own thoughts the whole evening, he still couldn’t resist holding on to that stupid little smile Gabriel had left him. And instead of a quick and dirty fuck, he had now ended up in this guy’s apartment and apparently that guy didn’t even consider fucking him, but instead simply offered him a place to sleep. Wasn’t he afraid Dean would and could rob or even worse, kill him? For a moment Dean tried to think the whole situation over and tried to evaluate if this was all a big hoax and if there was any chance of him somehow getting figuratively fucked, thereby making his situation even worse than it already was (if that was even possible), but… no. It didn’t appear to be this way. Because when Dean didn’t answer, Gabriel simply turned around, and started walking out of the room again. “Good night-“

“Dean,” Dean said. 

“Good night, Dean,” Gabriel said with a heartfelt smile before he closed the door behind him.

Dean sat down on the couch and looked at the door. Was he dreaming? Since when were people so selfless? Dean was confused… but also incredibly tired. He poured himself a glass of water and drank it hastily. After he got rid of his shoes and socks, he lay down for a second and even entertained the idea of sneaking into Gabriel’s bedroom to still sleep with him, but apparently his mind was finally done with Dean and all of his antics that day because before Dean could even start making a plan on how to seduce Gabriel, he had already fallen asleep. And that’s why, when Gabriel sneaked into the room only moments later to leave a toothbrush tumbler, including toothbrush and toothpaste, in the bathroom, all he saw was Dean, still fully clothed – besides his socks – snoring on top of the bedding and looking absolutely adorable. Gabriel stifled a giggle and walked towards the bathroom. There, he left the toothbrush tumbler on the sink and put out a towel for Dean. Then he switched off the lights, sneaked out of the room again, and went to sleep.

~~µ~~~~µ~~~~µ~~


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Dean was woken up by the wonderful smell of coffee and bacon. 

“Good morning, sleepyhead!” Gabriel said chirpily as he put down the last bit of breakfast: one Advil pill for the inevitable headache. Dean turned around in bed and hid his face under a pillow, moaning in pain. 

“I know… the whole world is a disaster and your brain feels like utter mush. Don’t worry! I’ve made you a big English breakfast, secret hangover remedy in my family for decades, and some coffee. I’ve also left you an Advil or alternatively a shot of whisky as hair of the dog-remedy should you swear by that kind of thing. There are towels and a toothbrush in the bathroom. Whenever you are ready, you can take a shower. I have to go to work now, so feel free to stay in bed for as long as you want. Just please don’t steal anything. Should you require anything: I’m downstairs in the shop and can be reached directly by the flight of stairs in the hallway. This way, you’ll end up in my office and don’t have to wade through the entire shop with all its noisy customers.” Dean peeked out from below the pillows. “Have a good morning and if we don’t see each other today: also have a nice day, Dean!” Gabriel winked and left Dean to his own devices. 

Dean hid in bed for another five to ten minutes. Then, he slowly pushed away the pillow, sat up and had breakfast. He took the pill and washed it down with the whisky. After Dean had a shower, he washed the dishes from his breakfast and tidied the couch, folding the bed sheets neatly before he put them on top of the pillow he had been sleeping on. Without looking back, Dean walked out of the apartment. Of course he could have spied on Gabriel and searched his entire apartment for clues to Gabriel and his life, but to what purpose? That man had already been incredibly generous to him last night and this morning and that without asking for anything in return. Snooping around now somehow felt invasive.

Dean looked at the flight of stairs Gabriel had mentioned, then at the entrance door, and finally at the stairs again. It was 10 a.m. and he contemplated his options for a few minutes before he decided that, though he didn’t feel like interrogating Gabriel properly at the moment because he had more pressing issues to solve, the least he could do was to thank his host in person for the nice deeds he did. 

And so Dean walked down the stairs, the noise of the buzzing shop becoming louder with every step. When Dean reached the end of the stairs, he stood in front of a closed door and wasn’t sure whether to knock or simply open it. Finally he decided that knocking would definitely be the more polite thing to do and so he did. 

Seconds later, a grinning Gabriel opened the door. “Good morning, Dean. Come in!” he said, making an inviting gesture. He stepped back into the room before he sat down behind his desk.

Dean walked through the door and closed it behind him. He looked at Gabriel behind the desk and was speechless in light of the many boxes of candy that were taking up almost all of the space in the little room. Gabriel saw Dean’s gaze and sniggered, “Don’t you dare getting ideas! This might feel like candy land, but it’s still a business! I know the quantity and content of all these boxes, so don’t even think about sneaking some of the things out of this room!” 

Dean looked directly at Gabriel now, his eyes betraying that Gabriel was heads-on with his assumption about Dean’s thoughts. Gabriel tried to look stern, but he just couldn’t stay serious for more than a minute, especially when he looked at Dean who looked like a child who just got caught with one hand in the cookie jar. Gabriel started laughing loudly. “Nah, don’t worry! I’m just pulling your leg! I mean… obviously I know the content of these boxes, but here,” Gabriel opened one of the candy jars on his desk and took out a stein-shaped gummy bear, “try this. It tastes like beer.” 

Dean took the gummy-stein. He looked at it, critically. “I promise it won’t bite you!” Gabriel laughed. 

Dean ate the gummy-stein and his face lit up. “It really tastes like beer!” he exclaimed.

“Of course it does. And the best bit: there’s no actual alcohol in it, so you can have as many as you want. Now, how can I help you? How’s your head doing? Was the coffee all right for you? It’s Turkish Mocha, a specialty one of my brothers brought home from his travels and I’ve been addicted to it ever since he introduced it to me. It’s on the stronger side of coffee as the caffeine is-“

“It was delicious. Thank you!” Dean smiled awkwardly, having found his voice again, he continued, “Actually, I can’t remember if I ever had coffee that woke me up so quickly, so thank you for that!” Dean smiled brighter. 

“Good. That’s good. I’m happy to hear that.” Gabriel said. “And the couch? I hope you were able to sleep well?” Gabriel continued, truly interested.

“Yeah, I eh… it was heaven. I didn’t even realize that it was just a couch. I slept like a stone and feel as refreshed as I would have been had I slept in my own bed. I…” Dean cleared his throat, “I just quickly wanted so say thank you. Thank you for your hospitality and also for the chocolate smiley yesterday. It indeed helped me stay sane over the course of the evening, so thanks.” Dean said. 

“You are welcome.”

“Listen, I know you are busy and quite frankly, I’ve got work to do as well, so… once again: thanks. But I should really go now.” Dean said awkwardly, extending his hand.

“No problem. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, you can stop by any time. We actually have smileys in all sizes and colors, so don’t hesitate to come in and get one.” Gabriel smiled, shaking Dean’s hand. 

“Thank you. I’m sure I’ll come back at some point, but at the moment I’m completely fine with the one you gave me.” Dean smiled shyly.

“No problem. As I said: open invitation. Same goes for my couch: should you need a place to stay for the night, you know where to find me. Just…” Gabriel giggled, playful. “if possible, please call next time before you stand in front of my door. Not that I wouldn’t take you in, but it’s easier to prepare for a guest when I know that there’s going to be one.” 

“About that...,” Dean started hesitantly, “I actually didn’t just-“ 

“Mr. Novak, there’s an emergency on the second floor and we need you immediately,” a shopping clerk interrupted Dean as she entered the office unannounced.

“Be right with you, Anael,” Gabriel said, getting up from his chair. “Dean, I’ve got to go.” Gabriel walked around the desk, indicating to Dean to walk through the door into the sales area. “Feel free to look around in the shop and buy something that makes you smile,” Gabriel said, his voice filled with warmth and care. Silently, Dean followed Gabriel and Anael through the shop until they reached a cast iron, green flight of stairs. There Gabriel turned around one last time, “I hope we’ll see each other again, Dean.” Then he turned back to his employee and both quickly walked up the stairs.

Dean didn’t move. He simply watched Gabriel walk farther and farther away from him. Once Gabriel disappeared entirely, Dean, like on autopilot, headed straight for the entrance door. Outside, he walked straight to his car and drove home. During the drive, suddenly everything came crashing down and he tried to decipher everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, starting with Ben and ending with Gabriel. Dean tried to rationalize his behavior in the bar and in Gabriel’s apartment, but somehow he couldn’t. Dean couldn’t even explain why he didn’t stay in the shop after they said their goodbyes. God knows, he needed something sweet that could help him get through the next few days. So instead of explaining the latter part of the evening, Dean did what he dreaded the most at the moment: he tried to come up with a solution for the Ben problem.

~~µ~~

Because it has always been easier for him to think when he was outside, Dean, once he arrived at home, immediately went to his balcony, sat down on one of the chairs, and tried to think of possible ways to help Ben. Dean remembered that Ben and his parents had talked about Ben changing schools, but Dean didn’t like this idea. If Ben really went away, Dean couldn’t properly keep tabs on him anymore, especially whenever a situation was about to escalate. Dean knew that the easiest solution would be the truth, but he also knew that this was the one solution that most definitely wasn’t going to happen. Especially considering their surroundings. Dean pondered about possible solutions, but no matter how many ideas he had, his mind kept automatically dismantling every single one of them, showing him all the possible ways it could and probably would go wrong. Dean sat outside for about three hours before his stomach started to rumble.

After Dean ate something, he tried to distract himself by doing some chores around the house, but nothing helped. He just couldn’t think of a solution that was 100% airtight, and that realization figuratively killed him. Ultimately, Dean decided that he needed some fresh air, more than his balcony could offer him. He grabbed his car keys from the dresser, locked his apartment, and was just about to drive to the nearby lake to take a swim, when his hand instinctively reached into his pocket. Surprised, he removed it again when he realized that he still had the chocolate smile he had received the evening before. He looked at it for a few seconds before he decided that he definitely needed something sweet right now. He put it back into his pocket, started the engine, and drove to Gabriel. 

Though Dean indeed longed for something sweet, he also wanted to thank Gabriel for his hospitality by inviting him to a nice meal. It’s the least he could do. Though, to be honest, this was just the superficial and official reason for his doings. He also secretly hoped that by talking to Gabriel, he might come up with a solution for his problem. After all, Gabriel had helped and instinctively given Dean exactly what he needed last night: something keeping him sane and just a good nights sleep instead of a quick fuck. So who knew, maybe Gabriel could also help him with his current problem. 

After Dean parked his car, he walked back to Gabriel’s shop and this time, as it was daytime, he was able to see the whole extent of Gabriel’s kooky candy store. From the outside, it kind of reminded Dean a little bit of the fictional joke shop of the Weasley twins. Only that it was strangely reversed. Instead of orange window-frames, Gabriel’s were green and instead of a giant ginger figure, raising its hat to show a bunny underneath, it was a giant bunny, which repeatedly raised its hat to show a small brown-haired man, presumably Gabriel himself, dressed in a black three-piece-suit. Dean couldn’t help but smirk. 

Dean entered the shop and took in the full extent of the colorful shop. Everywhere there were familiar mythical figures portrayed in a twisted and/or candy-ish way. Unicorns were all drawn as bicorns, angels were all drawn with demonic hooves, and the beast from “Beauty and the beast” was Belle, a beautiful beast-version of her, but definitely her. Other examples were simply fitted to their surrounding, like the giant Midgard world serpent “Jörmungandr” that was actually a giant slide within the shop and that was beautified with a variety of candy for scales. Dean looked around and didn’t know what to do… on the one hand, he wanted to immediately look for Gabriel and talk to him. On the other hand he felt like he could seriously get lost in looking at the art of this shop if he ever began looking at the artwork in earnest. The attention to detail was incredible. 

Dean was just about to walk over to the cast iron stairs when he suddenly heard a familiar voice behind him, “Back so soon? That must be rewarded. Do you want to try our whisky flavored gummy bears?” 

Dean turned around and wasn’t surprised to see Gabriel handling a pair of plastic tongs in which he held a gummy bear in the shape of a whisky glass. “Sure, why not?” Dean asked and ate it. “Mmmmmm… please tell me, they just taste like whisky, but don’t contain any alcohol because I’m afraid I’ll have to eat all of them!”

Gabriel laughed out loud. “Yes, I can confirm, they only look and taste the part, but they are completely free of any alcohol,” he said, gleeful.

“Excellent!” Dean said. “How many do I have to buy for you to agree to have dinner with me?” he asked.

Gabriel blushed. “Erm… actually none. All you have to do is ask.” 

“Awesome. Are you free right now?” Dean asked.

“Actually… I still have to be here for another two hours.” Gabriel replied.

“But can’t your employees do that for you?” Dean asked, trying his hardest not to look and sound like one of his younger students, impatient to get what they want right away. 

“Afraid not. We are expecting a giant delivery any minute now and we need all hands on deck for unloading it.” 

“Then let me help you!” Dean said almost immediately, happy for an opportunity to do something with his hands and thereby distract his thoughts. “I wanted to invite you to dinner as a way to say thank you for yesterday, but I’d gladly extent this by also offering you my services in helping you unload the delivery.” Dean asked, hopeful, almost joyous. 

“Say yes, or I will.” Anael said nonchalantly in passing them. 

Dean looked at Gabriel, expectant. “Guess that leaves me no other choice.” Gabriel smiled. 

“Awesome.” Dean replied, smiling. “So, where to?” he asked. 

Gabriel smiled at Anael as she passed them again and simply stated, “Follow me!” towards Dean.

~~µ~~~~µ~~~~µ~~

“Thank you! Thank you so very much for your help!” Gabriel said effusively as Dean retrieved the last box of candy from the van and put it in storage in the back of the shop.

“So… does that mean we can go eat something now?” Dean asked. Gabriel just nodded with a cheesy smile. 

“Ugh, you two still here? Go! Go away and take our boss with you!” Anael said, mock-grumpily as she took away the box from Dean. “We can take it from here,” she stated loudly while carrying the box from storage towards Gabriel’s office. 

“So… food?! Any preferences? I saw a burger place near your brother’s bar.” 

“Good choice. It’s one of my favorite places to eat actually,” Gabriel exclaimed happily, reaching for his jacket. “Shall we?” he asked. 

“Definitely. After you!” Dean said, gesturing for Gabriel to go first.

~~µ~~~~µ~~~~µ~~

“So… you do that often? Let total strangers sleep over in your house?” Dean asked, taking a giant bite of his hamburger.

“Actually… uhm… that’s a maybe.” Gabriel let out a short laugh. “It depends on your definition of ‘letting strangers sleep in my home.’ When I hook up with someone, then yes, they do mostly stay the night. But if you mean do I often give away candy in my brother’s bar and then have those people over as house guests, then no. That doesn’t happen that often. But I do have a variety of friends who tend to crash at my house from time to time. That’s why I’m always fully prepared for unannounced night guests.” 

“Then why…”

“Why did I let you stay at mine tonight?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know. You looked so lost last night and I just thought you might need some cheering up. Also, you REALLY weren’t in any state to drive yourself home.” Dean remained silent. “Do you want to tell me the reason why you got so incredibly hammered last night? I mean, don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but just from an outsiders perspective: I really hope you don’t consume such amounts on a regular basis. Because it was a lot...! Plus, it didn’t seem like you actually enjoyed it very much.” Dean turned away his head and looked outside the window, losing himself in thoughts. Gabriel took this as a sign that Dean didn’t want to talk about it. 

Gabriel was just about to ask Dean an unrelated question to stir away from his last question when Dean suddenly asked, “Why do you own a candy store?” His gaze still lingering on something outside.

“Oh, that’s a long story!” Gabriel sniggered. “Basically, I like making other people happy, especially when they are in a foul or sad mood. I think candy is one of the best inventions humans have ever thought of. Also, I just like the look of utter joy in children’s faces when they get to buy something that brings them so much pleasure. And to know that it was one of my gummy bears or lollipops or whatever else candy they bought that brought so much joy, is the greatest compliment I could get.” Gabriel was beaming with pride.

Dean thought for a minute. “Yeah, I get that. When students understand something after I explained it to them because they didn’t get it the time a different teacher had explained it to them, that’s one of my greatest joys.”

“Oh, so you are a teacher?”

“Yes. And yesterday was a particularly bad day at work and that’s why I drank.”

“Oh, okay.” Gabriel said, his voice ranging between acceptance, sympathy, and pity. “As I said, you don’t have to talk about it.” 

“No. No, it’s okay. I actually want to talk about it, because I really don’t know what to do,” Dean said, defeated. He closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath, and smiled. Then he turned back to his burger and took another bite. 

Gabriel didn’t want to be pushy, so he simply waited for Dean to speak up again. And luckily, they both had their burgers to eat, so he could keep himself busy while waiting for Dean to speak up. 

While they both ate their respective burgers, Gabriel looked at Dean, really looked at him, at his face and his eyes… Dean looked tired. Gabriel knew for a fact that Dean had been sleeping all night, not least because he had heard him snoring, and yet Dean looked like he had been pulling an all-nighter. Having seen the amounts of alcohol Dean had been drinking before he had given him the smiley and even worse, having heard by his brother just how much Dean had been drinking once he had left him in the bar, Gabriel was surprised Dean’s liver, let alone he himself was alive at all. Gabriel looked at Dean’s muscular arms and his hands, theorizing whether Dean just lifted weights or if he also did some boxing or other kind of professional fighting, maybe even martial arts. But Dean’s hands didn’t look like he was into fistfights, and yet… the giant shiner on Dean’s eye implied that Dean had been in at least one fight he lost. 

“You should see the other guy,” Dean said once he realized that Gabriel was observing his black eye.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to-“

“Nah, it’s okay. Guess the truth is the least I can offer you, beside the food, for letting me crash at yours tonight.” Dean took a sip of his beer. 

“You don’t have-“

“Oh, but I do, you know? It’s figuratively killing me that I can’t come up with a solution,” Dean huffed. He took a deep breath. “There is this kid in my school. He’s a little troublemaker, but actually a really nice kid. Only problem is that most people only see the trouble he causes and entirely ignore his good side. Well, I say ‘ignore’ but he actually doesn’t show his good side to everyone, and when he does, most people are already so fed up with his bad behavior that they can’t see certain deeds as what they are – which is good and caring.” Dean smiled and snorted lightly. “He’s a good kid,” Dean said, his voice sounding sad and truly caring and like he needed to remind himself of that fact. 

“Did… did he hit you?” Gabriel asked cautiously.

“Unicorn?” Dean laughed softly. “No. He never could, he never WOULD, do that. Or at least not to me.” Dean paused for a second. Gabriel didn’t speak up. “No, it wasn’t him.” Dean said more firmly. “See, the thing is, he’s gay. But I’m the only person he has come out to.” Gabriel mouthed an understanding “Oh” but didn’t dare to actually say it out loud, suddenly realizing where this story was probably heading.

“He and his boyfriend went to a lake nearby and… I was there as well, but I kept my distance. Well, you know better than I do how many villages are situated around us and unfortunately also how many small-minded people live in those.”

“Oh no!” Gabriel whispered, realizing that the story was going into a different direction.

“Oh yes. Some college kids didn’t like them kissing and simply enjoying each other’s company, so they picked on them.”

“And you intervened.”

“And I intervened,” Dean huffed before taking another sip of his beer. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Dean!” Gabriel said, reaching for Dean’s right hand with his own one. “Every time one thinks that humanity has finally accepted that humans come in all shapes and sizes, races, religions, and sexual orientations, humanity has to show its true and ugly face. Oh, Dean…” Gabriel said, appeasing.

“Actually, that’s not even the worst part of the story.” Gabriel mouthed another “Oh, no!” but didn’t say anything out loud. “Yeah, you see, unicorn was so afraid that I would forcefully out him that, during one of my lessons with him, he accused me of having molested him during detention.” Gabriel gasped and immediately retracted his hand, putting it in front of his mouth, hiding the shock he felt. “Yeah. I mean, it was an uncomfortable situation in class and I guess he tried to overcome it by just saying the first thing to come to his mind. And unfortunately it was that.”

“But… how… why though? Why would that be his first reaction?” 

Dean smiled lightly. “You are not much around teenagers having trouble, are you? Their usual fight-or-flight-response is usually fight; especially my special unicorn’s one. As I said, he’s a troublemaker.”

“But claiming you molested him? And in front of other students?” Gabriel asked, incredulous. “I mean, don’t get me wrong: I’m plenty used to teenagers, don’t you worry! There are actually quite a few teenager cliques who break into my place and try to rob me on a regular basis, but I usually handle them. Well, or more precisely Michael, my brother, handles them. And the coming out thing… I know it’s tough. Believe it or not but I’m actually currently renovating the apartment above mine, so it can serve as a temporary home for troubled teenagers and especially ones whose parents have thrown them out because they came out of the closet.”

“What? Really?” Dean asked, unbelieving. 

“Yes. I know it might sound a bit weird, but trust me I’ve got my reasons and it’s the least I can do. Castiel, one of my younger siblings, is actually adopted. He grew up in a rather problematic, read: violent, household. And the moment he outed himself, his father first beat him up with some rather nasty tool from the tool shed. Don’t worry I won’t go into details! And after that he threw him out of a driving car.” Now it was Dean’s turn to gasp and look shocked while slightly sitting back. “After he beat him up, he pretended to bring him to the hospital, but he actually threw him out once they were driving through the woods on the way to the hospital. He basically left him there to die.”

“But his mother?!”

“She felt sorry for her son, but was happy that her husband wasn’t beating HER up.”

Both stayed silent for a few minutes. Then Gabriel spoke up again, “Castiel was all alone in the woods, miles away from the next village or town, bleeding heavily, and without any way of communication as he didn’t have his phone with him.” Gabriel took a deep breath. “He got lucky that he had told a good friend about his plans and that that friend had pushed his own father to check up on him. They found him, sitting by the road, propped against a tree and unconscious.”

“That sounds horrible.”

“It is. I’m just happy we found him in time.”

“You?!” Dean said, speechless.

“Yes. After that, there was no discussion: we HAD to welcome him into our family and take him in. As I said, his mother didn’t say much and in his dad’s eyes he was dead anyway, so it was no problem adopting him at the age of 15. And Castiel was neither the first nor the last to be honest. I have many adopted siblings. My parents were very determined to teach us the value of all human lives. We used to live on a giant farm, so there was plenty of room for people who weren’t welcome at their own homes.” Gabriel thought for a long minute. Dean was still speechless. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt your story with mine! I just wanted to show you that I’m no stranger to teenagers. Thanks to my dad we always had a steady stream of young people living with us. It was part of his job.” Gabriel looked down at his hands, then directly at Dean again, “Sorry, please proceed with your story. He accused you of having molested him. What happened then? Did you talk to his parents?” Gabriel asked, truly interested.

“Actually, yes. I mean, first I had to defend myself in front of my boss and it was a long, tough talk. But luckily my unicorn caved in and told the truth once the principal told him about the possible consequences he would have to face if his claims turned out to be false. I guess that scared him enough to finally tell the truth. Well, or at least ‘a’ truth. As I waited outside while they had their conversation, I don’t know what lie he told the principal, but judging from the conversation I had with his parents after that, he definitely didn’t tell the actual truth of him being gay and trying to hide that fact. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to talk to him in person myself beside him apologizing in front of the principal and his parents, but I know that he has been suspended for some time. But I just don’t know what to tell the other students who witnessed the whole thing, not to mention my colleagues. They already keep accusing me of playing favorites for him anyway, so I can only imagine what Monday and the rest of the week, maybe even school year, will be like.”

“I understand. I mean, I don’t, but it sounds like a pretty shit situation. No wonder you drank like a fish.” Gabriel said, eating the last bit of burger. 

“Well, to be honest that wasn’t all.” Dean said sheepishly. “See, I have this colleague, Lisa, she’s a true bombshell and we had a thing… a fuck buddy-thing to be precise, and she ended it… yesterday morning.”

“Shit!”

“I know. Timing sucks at the moment.” Dean laughed painfully. “But hey, at least you let me crash at yours tonight or the entire situation might have escalated even further.” Gabriel tried to smile, but he just couldn’t. He didn’t dare to imagine what could have happened if he hadn’t offered Dean the smiley and Dean hadn’t decided to ring his bell in the middle of the night.”

Gabriel took a long look at Dean, pitying him and the entire situation, finally understanding why Dean, even though he had slept like a rock for several hours, looked so tired. “Is there any way I can help you in your current situation?” Gabriel asked, trying to think of some possibilities himself. 

“Well, now that you mention it…” Dean began. 

“Guess offering you a place to stay isn’t really what you need, is it? And candy also isn’t a permanent and likely solution to your problem.” Gabriel said, his voice trying to sound cheerful, but sounding more defeated and helpless.

Dean let out a short laugh. “No, I’m afraid neither solution would work, but…” Dean signaled the waitress to get the check, “if you don’t mind, I’d like to pick your brain to come up with a reasonable solution to the problem.”

“Of course!” Gabriel immediately replied. 

“Excellent.” Dean exclaimed happily.

~~µ~~~~µ~~~~µ~~


	3. Chapter 3

~~µ~~~~µ~~~~µ~~

Dean and Gabriel took a walk and talked about possible solutions while the sunlight slowly faded away. And although they hadn’t found the one and only solution that solved everything, they had found small solutions to smaller problems, like for example how to deal with Lisa’s break-up and how to deal with Dean’s current craving for pie. After a while, they ultimately ended up in Gabriel’s apartment again. There, they took the pie and two bottles of beer and sat on Gabriel’s bedroom balcony just as dusk was setting in. It wasn’t a particularly big balcony, but it was a nice one: big enough to fit about five people and with a cast iron railing.

“You sure you don’t want to sit on actual chairs?” Gabriel asked.

“Absolutely.” 

“Alright, but please at least take a cushion and sit on it.” Dean looked at Gabriel, unbelieving of what he just said. “Seriously? I’ve slept on concrete floor outside and I’m still alive.”

“I don’t care. I have as well, but I want your butt to be comfortable.” Gabriel said with an authoritarian voice. But once Dean looked at him incredulous, Gabriel broke character and laughed out loud. “That’s highly unfair! You are a trained teacher! Of course my tricks won’t work on you.” Gabriel laughed now even more loudly.

“Alright, alright, I will take it… mum!” Dean said, now also laughing while taking the cushion Gabriel was handing him. They both sat down and clinked their beer bottles. “To teenagers!” Gabriel said. “To teenagers!” Dean repeated. They both took a sip before Gabriel decided to give each person a piece of the pie. 

“So, tell me Dean, how come you call your student unicorn? And do you call all your students that?” Gabriel asked, truly interested. “Is that your way of keeping your students’ names anonymous? By calling them all ‘unicorns’?”

“Well, first of: This pie is absolutely delicious! And second: no. He’s the only one I call a unicorn. It’s kinda hard to describe without revealing too much about him, but let’s just say, he has a habit of dying his hair in very interesting colors.”

“Oh, okay,” Gabriel accepted.

“Now, it’s my turn: Why did you really give me the smiley last night and let me sleep here? And also, why are you actually trying to help me? Somebody else would have thrown me out of the house first thing in the morning, but you even made me breakfast even though you had to leave for work. And this… this we are currently doing? Why are you so eager on helping me find a solution? I mean, I know I kind of came back today to say thank you, but I feel like you are genuinely trying to help me?!” Dean said, surprised.

“I already told you why I did it: you looked sad and I wanted to cheer you up! I let you sleep here, because that’s how I was raised… always prepared to offer shelter to somebody should they need it. And this… I’m always more than willing to help people who need help. Doesn’t matter what that help looks like. And if you need someone to talk to in order to find a solution for your unicorn-problem, then that’s what I’m here for. Being a person you can bounce your ideas back and forth with until you find the one and only that works best in your current situation.” 

“So, what you are saying is that it has nothing to do with you being incredibly attracted to me, is that right?” Dean asked, provocatively. 

“Yes. I mean no.”

“No, you don’t find me attractive?” Dean asked, mock-hurt.

“No.”

“Ouch!” Dean laughed.

“No, I mean yes.” Gabriel added hastily.

“Yes, you don’t find me attractive?”

Gabriel thought for a second, trying to put the words in the right order. “Yes, I do find you attractive, but no, me helping you has nothing to do with me thinking you are sexy. I would have helped you even if you were a big hairy bear who desperately needed a smile. In fact, those are mostly the guys I give smileys to in my brother’s bar.” 

“So, you think I’m sexy, but I would have a better shot with you if I were a bear?” Dean asked, teasingly. “Just give me a few weeks and I can definitely grow a beard and gain some weight. Not sure, about the rest of my body regarding the hair, but I can definitely look bear-ish.”

Gabriel laughed. “I don’t know. I don’t really choose my partners by their looks.”

“And yet, you find me attractive?” Dean asked. 

“Yes, obviously. Who wouldn’t?” Gabriel responded, and with the sun now being completely gone and the street lamps below providing the only light, Dean wasn’t sure, but he could swear he saw Gabriel blushing a little bit. 

“Okay, I’ll bite. So, how DO you choose your partners?” Dean asked, shifting the pie from between them to his other side and therefore using the empty space to move closer to Gabriel now. 

Gabriel would be lying if he didn’t admit that he had been incredibly attracted to Dean from the very first moment he had seen him in the bar, but then again, it was also true that he didn’t really think that he actually had a shot with him. Guys like Dean have never been in Gabriel’s league, not least because if and when he hooked up with someone looking like Dean, it was usually just because the other party was too drunk to actually realize with whom they were sleeping. Or, they only pretended to like him and then they took advantage of the fact that his apartment was so close to his brother’s bar. They usually either slept with him and regretted it in the morning or they pretended to like him but actually just slept at his, pretending that they couldn’t get it up or were too drunk or too tired for sex that night. Dean’s question made Gabriel think for a while. His usual choice of partners? Well, given that his love for all things candy culminated in him owning a candy store and working long hours, he had a few attempts of relationships in the past, but they had always failed. 

Gabriel looked at Dean and contemplated how this evening would eventually end and whether or not there was any chance of him seeing Dean again after this evening. It was true that Dean had returned to him despite already having slept at his, but it was also true that Dean had come back under the pretense of saying thank you, but actually looking for a solution to his problem. Gabriel the problem solver… like always. One of his sisters had once accused Castiel of having too much heart, but the truth is that it was a weakness they both shared, only that they showed it in different ways. Just like his father, Gabriel has always been the one to “collect” and “save” people when they were in trouble. He was the one to help everyone when they hit a wall. It didn’t matter whether it was his brother Raphael who had been a recovering drug addict and not only needed someone to help him get clean but also a place to live for two years, or his niece Claire who needed help for her best friend who had been in an abusive relationship, Gabriel was always the one to help without asking for anything in return. His siblings knew that, no matter how creative he had to get in order to solve/help with the problem, Gabriel was always their problem solver. No questions asked on his part, just help. 

Gabriel wasn’t really used to having things for himself. One guy had even left him because he had been too generous. Too generous with his time for other people. Too generous with his workers’ working time, vacation, and salary. Unfortunately? Luckily? It hadn’t lasted for long. But Gabriel just wasn’t used to demanding and getting what he wanted. 

And that was exactly why Gabriel was currently thinking about how to describe his type without making it too obvious that Dean was –not just physically- his absolute personification of a dream man. He knew Dean was out of his league, but he really would have liked to get to know this man better… a lot better. And not just for a quick fuck. Dean seemed nice and had good values. Dean had told Gabriel about his brother Sam and that they had a difficult childhood. But he had also mentioned that it were those bad experiences that had helped him to find the confidence and strength to pursue a career as a teacher, hoping to help other disadvantaged kids to make the most out of them. Gabriel had been impressed. 

“Cat got your tongue?” Dean smiled provocatively. 

Gabriel looked down at the street and tried to think of an answer. 

Apparently, Gabriel took too long to think because Dean smirked, playfully rolled his eyes at the back of Gabriel’s head, put his beer beside the pie, and tapped on Gabriel’s shoulder. When Gabriel turned his head, Dean was mere inches away from his face. “You know, just in case you were wondering… I also find you attractive.” And with that Dean closed the gap between them and put a soft kiss on Gabriel’s lips. Gabriel’s lips parted automatically, massaging Dean’s lips with his. Gabriel felt a sudden warmth in his belly; describing it as butterflies hatching was really putting it mildly. Shit! He felt like he could seriously fall for this guy. 

“Now, I don’t know about you, but after you having worked all day and me having had a shitty week, I really think we could both use some downtime to forget the world.” Dean whispered once he drew back, their foreheads still touching. Dean smirked, “You in?” he asked.

Gabriel gulped and closed his eyes for a second. “Oh god, this was really happening, wasn’t it?” Gabriel thought to himself. “Fuck! What if he doesn’t like-,“ Gabriel opened his eyes again and suddenly he saw that the look in Dean’s eyes had changed. Suddenly, they were shining with so much untamed lust and desire that it was almost frightening. “Oh fuck it!” Gabriel thought. “Enjoy it while it lasts.” He could think about how to keep Dean at his side tomorrow. Tonight he just wanted to feel him. Wanted to be close to him. Get lost in those grass green eyes that promised miles and miles of open field, ready to be explored. 

“Yes.” Gabriel rasped. He cleared his throat, “Yes!” he repeated more loudly and smiled. 

“Excellent.” Dean concluded and gave Gabriel another peck on the lips. “Maybe we should move this inside?” he laughed. 

Now Gabriel laughed as well, “Certainly!” 

They didn’t even bother with the beer or pie, they just kept kissing while clumsily trying to navigate their way towards the room behind them and therefore also the bed, losing their clothes in the process. 

Kissing Gabriel felt so good, Dean concluded. It had been a while since he had hooked up with a man and he had really missed it. “Lube? Condom?” he asked in-between kisses when they reached the bed.

“Nightstand. Top drawer.” Gabriel replied hastily. But before Dean could reach for it, Gabriel stopped him. “Wait!” he took a deep breath. Then he smiled and pushed Dean onto the bed. “Let’s just say now it’s my time to say thank you.” He grinned and removed the last bit of Dean’s clothing: his boxers. Once they were gone, he also stripped down fully and retrieved the content of his top-drawer, leaving it on the nightstand for now. 

Slowly, Gabriel started kissing his way up between Dean’s legs, making sure to make it as thorough and soft as possible. “Oh fuck!” Dean cursed. “Hurry up!” he whined.

Gabriel smirked. “Patience, Mr. Handsome. We’ve got all night.” Dean closed his eyes, trying to keep himself in check and not hurrying Gabriel to move on because on the one hand, he truly enjoyed Gabriel’s slow pace of kissing every bit of skin there is and at the same time he was truly tempted to simply grab Gabriel, throw him onto the bed, and fuck him mercilessly. 

But then again, that’s exactly what his and Lisa’s relationship had been all about: letting off steam without much regard to feelings or an actual need for seduction or foreplay. Gabriel had meanwhile continued his kissing journey towards Dean’s upper body while straddling him. “Just relax and enjoy.” Gabriel whispered in-between kisses. Dean moaned. It had TRULY been ages since somebody had spent so much time on caressing his body… and it felt oh so good. 

Dean moaned again, “Oh Gabriel… this feels so good.” 

“Oh, really? I couldn’t tell.” Gabriel replied with a smirk on his face as he locked eyes with Dean, then took a quick glance towards Dean’s hardening member, and made a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows. Dean couldn’t help but smile. “You are an idiot!” he exclaimed, laughing out loud.

“Oh well, I’ve been called worse.” Gabriel shrugged it off and continued covering every inch of Dean’s body with hot kisses. He had now reached Dean’s nipples and started circling one of them with his tongue and gently sucking on it while using his fingers to play with the other one. Dean meanwhile buried one of his hands in Gabriel’s soft brown hair, enjoying every bit of what Gabriel was doing to him, relaxing more and more with every inch he moved upwards. “Oh Gabriel… mhm… so gooood… yes… don’t stop.” Dean groaned. 

Slowly, for Dean unbearably slowly, Gabriel moved higher and higher until he finally reached Dean’s head. There he seemed to move even slower than before by tracing beautiful patterns in the hollow of Dean’s throat, before moving on and kissing along Dean’s neck and behind his ear. “You are beautiful,” he whispered softly into his partner’s ear before kissing him. Dean didn’t know what to reply. He felt like he knew that he was supposed to be more pro-active and not just lie there, letting Gabriel do all the work, but somehow this thought had been pushed so far behind in his head that he couldn’t materialize it enough to act upon it. Instead, he indeed just lay there and enjoyed. Enjoyed, not having to do decide anything. Enjoyed, for once not actually having to do all the work like he had to so many times with Lisa. Enjoyed, simply enjoying something and forgetting about all his problems and the rest of the world. 

Lost in his own thoughts, Dean hadn’t realized when Gabriel had switched from them kissing passionately to him circling Dean’s navel with the tip of his tongue and ultimately wrapping his hand around Dean’s cock. Dean drew in a deep breath. “Relax, Dean. Just relax.” Gabriel appeased. “Let me take care of YOU for a change.” He spoke, their eyes now interlocked. First he only gave a few lazy strokes to it, using the emerging precome to lubrify the shaft of Dean’s cock, but then he leaned down and started licking off the precome from the head of it. “Fuck!” Dean exhaled. “That’s so hot,” he groaned.

Gabriel just smiled and now started licking the whole length of Dean’s cock. Dean cursed again and started to plead, “Please, Gabriel. Please…”

“Please what, Dean?” Gabriel inquired to know, continuing to lick and look up into Dean’s pleading eyes. Before Dean could answer, Gabriel fully committed and took all of Dean’s cock in his mouth in one fluid motion. Dean’s attempted words got mangled and instead Dean let out a long-stretched groan. His eyes immediately fluttered shut and he bucked up, the sensation he felt almost overwhelming him, especially once Gabriel started bobbing his head up and down Dean’s length, his tongue sliding along the shaft. 

Gabriel enjoyed the weight of Dean’s cock in his mouth, enjoyed bringing him so much pleasure. He intensified his effort, eager to drive Dean wild, trying to provide Dean with plenty of evidence and incentive to stay with him. His fervor got rewarded as Dean’s groans became deeper more desperate. Dean now buried both his hands in Gabriel’s soft, brown hair, loosely keeping Gabriel’s head in place, longing for his release, and feeling his orgasm rapidly approaching. And as much as he yearned for it, he also didn’t want this to end. He enjoyed Gabriel’s caresses just too much. But in the end he had to admit defeat. It didn’t take long until his hips jerked up and he came. Gabriel didn’t move away. Instead he stayed right where he was enjoying every bit of cum Dean shot directly down his throat. 

“Fuck!” Dean cursed. Gabriel released Dean’s cock with an obscene pop after having milked Dean seemingly dry. Gabriel smiled before he crawled up between Dean’s legs. “Iiiiiiiii take it you liked it?” he smirked. 

“Hell, yeah.” Dean confirmed. He grabbed Gabriel’s chin and dragged him even closer, whispered, “Thank you,” before he started kissing him, tasting himself on Gabriel's tongue. Once they parted, Dean said, “I definitely liked it and I want more.” 

Gabriel giggled, his gaze lingering on Dean’s voluptuous lips. “Oh, really? You want some more? Are you sure you can handle that now?” Gabriel reached between them and touched Dean’s still sensitive cock. 

Dean drew in breath through his teeth, “Fuck! No Gabriel. That’s not what I meant!” he let out a short giggle. 

“Oh?” Gabriel asked. 

“No. What I want is you in me.” Dean said seductively. 

“Well, if that is what you want,” Gabriel said, slowly getting up and grabbing the bottle of lube and a condom from the nightstand, “that can definitely be arranged.” 

Dean smiled expectantly. “Can’t wait.” 

Gabriel climbed back on the bed between Dean’s legs, pushed his thighs open, and lubed his fingers before putting on the condom. Dean lay on his back and looked up at Gabriel, kissing him long and passionately. He now felt Gabriel circling Dean’s entrance with his lube-coated fingers before quickly pressing one in. Dean moaned and Gabriel continued preparing him by adding more fingers and scissoring him open, repeatedly brushing over his prostate. “Aaaaaah… Gabriel.”

Gabriel smiled and quickened the pace of his movements; enjoying the way Dean began falling apart, impatient to replace his fingers with his dick. 

“Gabriel, please. I want you. Want you in me.” 

Gabriel continued for another few minutes before he decided to pull his fingers out. Though Dean knew what was happening, he couldn’t help but whine, thrusting his hips into thin air, longing to be filled up again. Gabriel didn’t hesitate for long; quickly he aligned his cock with Dean’s hole and slowly buried himself inside of him, pausing once his entire length was in Dean. “Come on, Gabriel! No need to take it slow. I want you! Want you deep inside of me, mercilessly fucking me like the outer world doesn’t even exists.”

Gabriel smirked about Dean’s dirty talk. Was this the proper language for a teacher? Instead of analyzing it or saying something, Gabriel immediately started moving faster, plunging himself deeper. “Oh fuck! Just like that!” Dean groaned, turning his head sideways now, pressing it into the soft bed sheet below them. 

With every push, Dean felt himself getting looser; whining every time Gabriel brushed his prostate, feeling his sexual desire being rekindled. He gasped for air, enjoying the moment and the fact that he had finally found someone who was willing to fuck him instead of the other way around. Not that he didn’t like to be the fucker instead of the fuckee, but with men he usually preferred the latter, though most semi-pushed him into the former. “Faster! Harder!” Dean demanded and Gabriel gladly obliged. 

Gabriel looked at Dean and felt like he was looking at an early modern painting. Dean’s features were so beautiful, so soft, and perfect, he seemed like he had escaped a painting. Gabriel kept relentlessly pushing into Dean, panting as he tried to hold off his orgasm to make this moment last longer, and yet also gasping as he felt the waves of orgasm already getting higher and higher, signifying his losing attempt to keep them in check. 

Gabriel gave it one, two, three more, last, pushes before he finally gave in and let the orgasm wash over him, making his limbs weak and making him figuratively melt against Dean once he lay down on top of him, too spent to do anything else while his seed was meanwhile filling Dean up. 

Though Dean had only come a few minutes before, the combination of the penetration he received and the friction his dick had experienced was just too much: he now felt a second orgasm hitting him, painting the small space between them with his cum. 

Gabriel and Dean both stayed still for a few precious moments, not one of them moving, enjoying their shared afterglow. Then, Gabriel slowly slit out of Dean, threw away the condom, took a wash cloth to clean himself and Dean up, and flopped down beside Dean. Dean took a deep breath and opened his eyes, looking at Gabriel and smiling, “Hi.” 

“Hi.” 

“That was…” Dean began.

“…nice.” Gabriel finished. 

They both smiled and Gabriel leaned lower until their mouths touched again. Slowly they let their mouths slide open against each other; their tongues once again pushing and sliding in the other one’s mouth. When they both came up for air again, Dean yawned. 

Gabriel giggled, “Shower and then sleep?” he asked.

“Shower and then sleep,” Dean replied.

“Okay, follow me,” Gabriel said, taking Dean’s hand and leading him through the dark and into his shower. After they both cleaned themselves up and brushed their teeth, they crawled back into bed and fell asleep within seconds.

~~µ~~~~µ~~~~µ~~

It was the middle of the night when Dean woke up. He realized that, in their effort to sleep with each other, they had completely forgotten to shut the door to the balcony. Dean stood up to close the door, but then decided to step outside instead. He was stark naked, but decided against putting something on as it was very dark outside and the light from the street below them didn’t reach high enough to illuminate the balcony. Plus, at that time of the night there were hardly any people walking around, just the usual suspects: some drunk people and one-night-stands, all of them walking home and ignoring their surrounding. So there probably weren’t that many people who were even tempted to look up and possibly see him.

Dean stepped to the railing and looked up at the sky. He looked at the stars and tried to identify them, but he grew tired of it very quickly. It was almost peacefully quiet. Perfect to get lost in one’s thoughts. Dean continued looking at the sky and thought about Gabriel and the things they had talked about. It was weird, but after not having thought about his problems for a few hours, he now realized that the things he had previously thought so big and difficult, now almost seemed small and insignificant. Of course he still had to somehow resolve the problem with his student and what to tell the other ones’ at school, but he suddenly felt a weird peace within himself. He suddenly felt as if things were put back into perspective; a perspective he had somehow lost somewhere along the way since he had moved. 

Being with and talking to Gabriel had calmed him down and at the same time made him more determined and ready to act regarding some things in his life that made him unhappy. It revived his willpower and trust in himself to be a great teacher even if the odds, and people in those little villages, were against him. He thoroughly loved his job, but he would lie wouldn’t he admit that his work in this remote part of the country hadn’t taken a toll on his self-confidence and believe that he actually WAS good at what he was doing. Dean thought about his brother and about what Gabriel had told him about his own siblings. 

And so it came that, while looking at the stars and letting his thoughts run wild for a while, he all of a sudden also found a possible, but not entirely waterproof, solution to his problem. Dean smiled and cursed, relieved to finally know what to do once he was back in school, scolding himself for not having seen the obvious solution much, much sooner. 

Suddenly Dean heard music playing quietly from somewhere below. Instinctively, he looked for the source of the music and saw a beautiful, young girl walking down the street, probably home. But instead of using her headphones, the girl let her music play from an oblong portable Bluetooth speaker. Though Dean was a bit annoyed that she was using a speaker instead of headphones, he was happy that she at least had the decency to play it at a reasonable volume.

♪♫ For more than two years I’ve been lonely ♫♪

Dean sighed. Well, he had Lisa and some casual hook-ups, so he technically had a remedy against loneliness: fucking. And yet it was true… he did feel lonely despite of it all, especially since he had moved to his new job. 

♪♫ Then you came around ever so slowly ♫♪

Dean suddenly felt two arms wrapping around him, hugging him. Gabriel’s head resting against Dean’s back. 

♪♫ When I needed it most ♫♪

♪♫ you’d just hold me ♫♪

Dean smiled and put his arms above Gabriel’s. 

♪♫ then you’d unfold me ♫♪

♪♫ every layer ♫♪

Dean opened Gabriel’s arms and pushed Gabriel in front of him before hugging him the same way Gabriel had minutes previous. 

♪♫ I don’t wanna run from it ♫♪

♪♫ this is the happiest I’ve ever been ♫♪

Together they started swaying softly, Dean hugging Gabriel even closer now. “Why are you awake?” Gabriel whispered, leaning against Dean’s chest.

“Couldn’t sleep,” he replied. “I came out here because I thought it might help me get tired again. I love being outside and just looking at the stars.” 

Gabriel smiled, “Me too.”

♪♫ I’m not great at love, but I’m open ♫♪

Though Dean was unfamiliar with his song, he had to admit that he really liked it. It wasn’t his usual jam, but it seemed nice. It somehow spoke to him because this truly was the happiest he had been for a long time.

♪♫ And out of all of the prayers out there, mine was chosen ♫♪

Swaying softly and hugging Gabriel, Dean’s thoughts wandered to the last time he had done something similar in the dark and hidden from the rest of the world and being incredibly happy while doing so: summer camp. Of course he had danced and done all kinds of things with guys and gals, but it had been decades since he had felt this weird connection to someone and letting someone get so close to him, not just physically, but also emotionally. He had longed for something like this many years now. 

♪♫ You’re unbelievable ♫♪

♪♫ How can I trust this? ♫♪

Enjoying the moment, but definitely smelling an opportunity to make it even better, Dean let his right arm slowly sink lower along Gabriel’s body. “You know, I really like this.”

“Me too.” Gabriel confirmed, his eyes closed, truly enjoying the moment. “It’s so nice that you are here with me.” Dean smiled. “When I woke up and you weren’t there, I was afraid that you had left me once you got what you wanted.” 

Dean smirked. “Oh no, trust me, I’m far from being done with you.” His arm now caressing Gabriel’s side before reaching for Gabriel’s slowly hardening cock. Gabriel gasped.

♪♫ Trust shit. ♫♪

♪♫ I can’t even find the words ♫♪

“You know, it’s a good thing that your balcony is so up high from the street because it means that I can do this without anyone else seeing us.

Gabriel moaned. “Dean, we should-“

“No. I don’t want to. I enjoy this moment too much to move somewhere else,” he said. “Wait!” he said, “stay where you are. Don’t you dare to move!” he whispered into Gabriel’s ear before quickly running in and out of the bedroom, getting the bottle of lube from the nightstand.

♪♫ I don’t really wanna run from it ♫♪

♪♫ this is the happiest I’ve ever been ♫♪

Back at the balcony and behind Gabriel, he lubed his hand and started stroking Gabriel’s cock lazily. “Ahh… Dean…” Gabriel murmured, his voice low and aroused, while still resting against Dean. 

♪♫ I’d rather escape with these memories ♫♪

♪♫ than worry about losing him ♫♪

“Yes, just like that.” Dean whispered before leaving a trail of kisses on Gabriel’s neck. “Just let go.” Gabriel’s breathing sped up, his heart started racing, his entire body was shaking with lust.

“Fuck!” Gabriel cursed as Dean sped up his movements. 

“Not quite. Unless you want me t-.”

Dean couldn’t even finish his sentence. “Yes! Yes, please!” Gabriel quickly said. “Just… please be careful. I don’t do this very often.”

♪♫ noreg, noreg, noreg, no regular love ♫♪

“As you wish.” Dean smirked. He squeezed a generous amount of lube on his hand and started circling Gabriel’s entrance for a while before he pressed one finger in. “Just breathe.”

“Oh goooood….” Gabriel groaned. 

“Do you like it?” Dean asked, adding another finger. 

“Yes! Very. More!” Gabriel pleaded. Dean smirked. He added a third finger and continued scissoring Gabriel open. Gabriel moaned as Dean continued brushing over his prostate. “Fuck, Dean! I can’t take it any longer. Please fuck me!” 

Dean removed his fingers and put on the condom he had also brought with him from the nightstand. He aligned the head of his cock with Gabriel’s entrance and said, “Lean forward and keep your hands on the railing, okay?” 

“Okay. But please… “Fill me up,” Gabriel pleaded. 

“Gladly,” Dean said, slowly pushing all the way in. “You all right?” he asked, making sure to give Gabriel enough chance to adjust. 

“Yes. Move!” 

Dean didn’t hesitate and started thrusting in and out of Gabriel. 

“It feels so good.” Gabriel moaned. “Please don’t stop.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it!” Dean reassured Gabriel. He wrapped his lubed hand around Gabriel’s dick and began stroking it again. Gabriel gasped and tried his best not to immediately shoot his load. It was just too much. He already thoroughly enjoyed feeling Dean deep inside of him, but the current vulnerable position, them, naked on the balcony, only made the situation even more exciting for him. They were only one too loud moan or scream away from someone looking up and probably seeing their silhouettes, moving in tandem. And then Dean just had to add the extra element of jerking him off… Gabriel felt like he would come the moment Dean would as much as say his name. 

And then he did. “Gabriel,” Dean whispered softly in Gabriel’s ear as he was pumping Gabriel’s dick faster. For a split second Gabriel felt like time itself had stopped and his insides were exploding. With a long, desperate, muffled scream, Gabriel came, spurting his cum through the spaces in the railing. Gabriel could only hope that no one was currently passing by and getting an unexpected surprise on their head right this second, especially not the girl with the speaker, which has now switched to another song. 

While Gabriel was temporarily out of it, enjoying the afterglow and still desperately clinging to the railing, Dean shut his eyes, held his mouth screwed up tight, and gave it one more push before he too came long and hard in Gabriel’s ass. Dean looked almost like he was in pain, desperately trying not to scream out his release, but then his whole features relaxed again and he also grabbed the railing, leaning into Gabriel, inhaling his scent while coming down from his climax. 

“Guess we need another shower.” Gabriel giggled. 

“Guess so.” Dean laughed. He eased out of Gabriel and began walking into the house again. He turned around and said, “Good thing I know where your bathroom is,” winking at Gabriel. Gabriel laughed out loud and followed. “Yeah, good thing,” Gabriel said, following suit. “And even better that you also know where my bedroom is,” he added, “because this definitely calls for revenge,” Gabriel said, smiling while closing the balcony door behind him.


End file.
